Movie Review: "Macbeth"

"Macbeth": B.  Here is a piece of advice for those of you planning to see the latest stunning rendition of Macbeth:  Don't go in cold.  Take a couple of hours to read the play first, if you haven't done so already, commit the main characters' names to your memory, and familiarize yourself with the setting and backdrop.  On the other hand, if your ears are finely tuned to the Old English vernacular delivered with a heavy Scottish brogue, then by all means skip my caveat, grab your six dollar box of popcorn and take your seat. 

Macbeth, one of the grimmest of Shakespeare's plays, features a bigger-than-life title character, only capable of being suitably played on film by an extremely small percentage of today's actors.  Thankfully, one in that tiny minority is Michael Fassbender, who hits another home run on the heels of his masterful performance in Steve Jobs (reviewed here on November 12, 2015; B+).  It appears that Fassbender has gone to the head of the class of actors who are cast for roles demanding visceral leaders from whom the viewers are incapable of removing their eyes.  He is a younger -- by thirteen years -- version of Russell Crowe. 

Macbeth is the story of a warrior who is the last remaining hope for Scotland's beloved King Duncan (David Thewlis) to preserve his throne.  The movie begins on the battlefields, where the loyalists, led by Macbeth, engage in hand-to-hand combat with the rebel forces fronted by the traitor Macdonald.  Director Justin Kurzel uniquely stages this combat with a mixture of real-time and super slow motion footage, thus enabling us to see the fury of war and the cruelty of the heartlessly delivered bloodshed.  It is one of the most effective renderings of combat I can remember since the Normandy Beach scene in 1998's Saving Private Ryan.

They say that behind every successful man is a successful woman.  Is it a corollary that behind every devious scheming man is a devious scheming woman?  Since Tom Petters and Deanna Coleman are not available for me to ask, I will take a cue from Shakespeare.  Enter Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard).

Macbeth incorrectly calculates that Duncan will reward him by designating Macbeth, the warrior who saved the throne, as Duncan's successor.  What Macbeth overlooks is that Duncan has a son, Malcolm (Jack Reynor), whom Duncan is not willing to demote notwithstanding Macbeth's heroics.  This does not sit well with Macbeth, but it is Lady Macbeth who suggests a nefarious scheme that gets Macbeth what he and his cold-blooded wife covet.  Simply poisoning Duncan's mead won't do; his murder at the hands of Macbeth is about as gruesome as can be.  Unfortunately, acquiring the kingship does not bring peace to either Macbeth or his wife.  They find that their troubles are just beginning.  Before the story is over, several more innocent victims meet their demise under the direction of Macbeth.  This is the quintessential tale of how lust for power can run amuck.

It would have made no sense to pair the mighty Fassbender with anyone but a strong female lead.  The casting of Cotillard, an exotically pretty actress with a mysterious aura, to play Lady Macbeth is a brilliant selection.  We have to believe that, notwithstanding her husband's battlefield bravery and powerful presence, Lady M has the gumption and seductive power to wile her husband toward unspeakable acts.  She is every bit his equal.  Although both guilty of the same crimes, Macbeth and Lady M react in quite different ways.  Fassbender and Cotillard seamlessly and dynamically illustrate how their dark sides overwhelm their characters.

Shakespeare often uses ghosts and spirits in his plays to serve a number of purposes.  They seem to be omnipresent and omniscient.  Sometimes the playwright uses them as vehicles to alert the readers (or theater goers) to plot developments which have occurred offstage.  At other times a spirit and one or more characters may interact in the form of a dream or dialogue to which the other characters are not privy.  Macbeth is no exception.  In this movie, three women become the personification of the famous witches (as they are called in the text of the play), who first prophesy the futures of Macbeth and his fellow general, Banquo (Paddy Considine).  The witches appear in the beginning, middle and end of the story.  You must pay close attention to their lines, especially at the beginning, as they chart the course and in a way explain the behavior of the main characters.